The total of deaths in Kansas attributed to COVID-19 surpassed 10,000 this week. The latest report from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment showed there have been 10,029 deaths over the course of the pandemic. That was an increase of 34 new deaths and 2,057 new cases reported between Wednesday, Feb. 8, and 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

The weekly cumulative incident rate showed most of the Great Bend Tribune coverage area had a moderate new case rate for the period starting Feb. 4 and ending Feb. 10.

Barton, Ellsworth, Pawnee, Edwards, Rush and Stafford counties were all in the “moderate” range, defined as 10-49 cases per 100,000 people. Russell had zero new cases but Rice County had seven, placing it in the “substantial” new case rate of 50-99 cases per 100,000. Ness County had six, which placed it in the “high” new case rate, with the equivalent of 218 cases per 100,000 people.

The number of new cases per county:

• Barton 7

• Edwards 1

• Ellsworth 3

• Ness 6

• Pawnee 3

• Rice 7

• Rush 1

• Russell 0

• Stafford 1